Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimoThe Pouch Camp Scouting site is located in the heart of the Greenbelt.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Pouch Camp has been saved.

The Greater New York Councils Boys Scouts of America and the Trust for Public Land have entered an agreement to preserve the 120-acre Sea View property -- allowing the Scouts to continue using it as they have for decades, giving the public more access and protecting it from residential development.

Still, the two-phase plan hinges on funding, an amount that couldn’t be immediately confirmed.

In the first phase, TPL will protect 40 acres of Pouch with a perpetual conservation easement, an agreement that allows the Scouts to continue to operate the camp in exchange for giving up the right to develop the property.

Phase 1 is expected to be completed by next July, according to a press release e-mailed to the Advance by GNYC.

The second phase includes the purchase of 51 acres for a permanent easement with the Scouts still retaining use of the cabins, trails and the 40-acre Camp-o-ree field, the area that was deemed most at risk because it is the most suitable for development.

It was not clear who is purchasing the land, though sources told the Advance that the city Parks Department and city Department of Environmental Conservation are the buyers.

"The permanent preservation of Pouch Camp as described in the agreement is contingent upon achieving the conservation funding," reads the press release. "TPL and GNYC will work with federal, state, regional and local public agencies to facilitate the overall funding and the ownership of the portion of property to be acquired."

A GNYC spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Dongan Hills resident Charlie Greinsky, vice president of relations and intergovernmental affairs for the Staten Island Council of the Boy Scouts of America, hailed the news – no matter what is written in the fine print.

"The gem of the Greenbelt will be preserved," he said. "It doesn’t matter what you call it or who owns it, it’s still the Greenbelt and everyone will have access to it. The more open to the public it is, the greater it really is."